How one of the country’s most important agricultural activities has experienced a decline since the 1970s

He Sheep sector Since the country’s beginnings, it has been one of the country’s most important livestock activities, with a development and a series of minds that made Argentina one of the country’s most important livestock industries Power in wool and meat production.

According to the records of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, in 1895 in total 74 million headsThe vast majority are in the province of Buenos Aires.

But the advance of livestock and agriculture was shifted to the south of the country, more precisely to the south of the country Patagoniawhere he knew how to settle and grow, although Buenos Aires and the coastal provinces continued to play a predominant role.

Between 1925 and 1970 The rodeo stabilized in between 40 and 50 million headsbut from 1971 sheep numbers began a downward trend that continues to this day.

To get an accurate picture of what this decline in the stock means, it is enough to see two numbers: in 1970the country had 44.3 million headswhile inside 2024this number dropped 12.4 million. In other words, just over a quarter of the sheep numbers of 55 years ago remain, although there was an upswing starting in 2000, lasting until 2015 and then declining again.

In this meantime in the late 60sArgentina exported more than 200,000 tons of woolwhile in the currentlythe volume is at 31,088 tons of dirty baseTo.

This debacle is due to a number of factors: Natural disasters (extreme snowfall, drought, volcanic eruptions); Progress of other activities (livestock and agriculture); And low international pricesparticularly in the 80s and 90s due to Australian overproduction, to name a few.

But the closer you get to these years, the more aspects come into play: macroeconomic and exchange rate instabilitywith the gap as a determining factor; The Robbery from species such as pumas, foxes and wild dogs; the competition with Guanaco; and the lack of public policies towards the sector, with the abolition of the Sheep Law as a final blow.

According to the President of the Federation of Rural Societies of Chubut, Osvaldo Lujanin the last 18 years the entire sheep population in Patagonia was reduced by 35%from almost 10 million sheep to 6.5 million. This reduced wool production by 51% from 47,000 tons to 23,000 tons.

For Luján: “Drought has been a major factor in recent years directly impact the feed and water capacity required for production,” while “exponential growth of the guanaco Without control it makes production impossible. It is estimated that there are nearly four million sheep in Patagonia that directly compete with sheep for food and water.”

On the other hand, he presented the predation of wild animals and wild dogs as another important factor as a condition of the activity since “it has increased since there is no policy of balance between fauna and production.” We went from mortality rates considered appropriate for this concept of 7/8% to percentages in excess of 20% in some areas“.

Another factor that producers understand as a reason that can explain the failure of the activity is that Advance of environmental foundations and NGOsand the establishment of new national parks and protected areas.

In this sense, he represents the Argentine Rural Confederations (CRA) in the Federation of Agricultural Institutions of Santa Cruz, Cesar Guattipointed out that “the proliferation of protected areas and national parks and other various personalities in the form of NGOs in foundations depopulated the livestock fields and created a…” Pest overpopulation This had a direct impact on agricultural producers.”

“A national park was created and the agricultural producers that surrounded that park They had to stop production Sheep because it was a factory of cougars and foxes that attacked the sheep mercilessly and many ranchers had to close or abandon the fields,” Guatti said.

Luján elaborated on this aspect: “The foundations have taken over productive fields and closed them to production, which has led to the abandonment of neighboring fields or the impossibility of production on them, since the fauna looks for food and water where there is production.” Today, there are an estimated 40% of abandoned fields in Chubut alone.“.

Apart from the very sharp decline in international prices in the 80s and 90s, as well as natural disasters such as the Hudson volcano eruption in 1991 and the “snowfall of the century” in 1995, which affected activity, Activity increased at the beginning of this centurybut that only lasted until 2015.

In the following years, a phenomenon typical of the Argentine macroeconomy occurred, which had a full impact on activity, as in almost all sectors whose main market is abroad: exchange gap.

“From an economic perspective, many national measures also worked against this. Wool is a 100% exportable product. We.” We had a gap between official and parallel exchange rates of more than 100%which significantly affected production since we received almost half of it at real values,” commented Guatti.

According to Luján, the losses due to this situation were greater than those of millionaires, especially during the presidency of Alberto Fernández: between the 2019/2020 harvest and the 2023/24 harvest there was a decrease in producers’ income $309 million.

In June this year, the national government decided to repeal the law Law to promote sheep and llama farming (Law 25,422) and argues with low effectiveness and “high bureaucratic costs”. As early as 2024 he decided to dissolve it Sheep Activity Restoration Trust Fund (FRAO)which comprised approximately $3,000 million and was the financing vehicle for the regulations.

The law sought “Promotion and restoration of sheep farmingby offering financing, technical assistance and subsidies to modernize farms, improve the quality of wool and meat, and promote rural development,” goals the Milei government says have not been achieved.

However, this is not the case in the industry as many companies expressed their disagreement with the official decision. “It was the coup de grace “It was dedicated to sheep production,” he reflected Jorge Masi ElizaldeRancher from 9 de Julio in Buenos Aires and member of the Barbechando Foundation. and member of its meat commission.

For Elizalde: “From 2000, when the Sheep Act was brought into being in conjunction with the Trust, the trend was reversed that sheep farming had increased at this time, particularly in Patagonia, following the volcanic eruptions that decimated production and allowed for renewed growth.”

“Today we are in limbobecause we don’t have the support of the sheep law. Some producers continue, but many drop out,” he explained.

But the sheep farmers are not giving up and want to continue investing in the activity. “The sheep farmer is a vocation and never stops producing We are looking for the necessary tools to reverse this,” Luján said.

But he claimed that “this can be achieved not only with greater investment and professionalization of production, but also with.” government policies that create a comprehensive plan to maintain production in a region where only this activity can maintain roots and sovereignty.”

For Luján, “this plan must contain all topics necessary for productionlike a health plan; guanaco and predator control; Water; incentive to produce through lower taxes; a regulation for the acquisition of fields by foundations; and accessible credit lines to recover lost working capital.”

Additionally, he explained that producers need to “execute.” Goal change insideprofessionalize the management and tools necessary for more efficient production.

“Fine Patagonian wool has its market and is internationally recognizedIn order for us to continue production, determinations are required from the provinces and national states,” he concluded.

As for them Meat productionAlthough it is limited compared to other proteins, since in 2024 around 14,500 tons of bone-in beef were produced, of which 5,000 were exported, and according to private estimates the internal consumption per inhabitant per year is only 1.5 kilos, today it shows signs of strength in its indicators.

For Guatti: “Lamb meat production for export remains stablewith highly valued markets such as the European Union, which allows us to maintain a fairly constant level in these years, accompanied by a very well-established refrigeration industry in Patagonia, which allows access to these markets.”

“Then we would say that There are conditions for growthwhich would have to be consolidated through the greatest possible intensification and diversification of production in order to further advance this process and stop the decline in sheep activity,” he concluded.